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Westminster Institute of Education,
Harcourt Hill Campus,
Oxford OX2 9AT

Abstract:

The role of action planning in recovery frm a special measures assessment

Special schools are four more times more likely to receive a special measures inspection assessment than are mainstream schools. In this DfEE-funded research the action plans of all 60 special schools which are or had been on special measures were analysed. Relationships between the quality of the action plan and subsequent progress (as assessed by HMI ratings) were then sought. One in four of the total cohort of special schools were visited for further information from staff, governors, parents and pupils. Good progress following a critical assessment was found to be related to certain processes adopted in action planning, such as the adequacy of specification of responsibility for undertaking certain tasks, for monitoring progress and for planning a realistic timescale. These in turn depended on the quality of leadership (often effected via a change of headteacher) and on the quality of support received from outside the school, for example from local authority advisers.